CFML, Clojure, Software Design, Frameworks and more...

New Atlanta offers ColdFusion to .NET/Java migration assistance

June 7, 2008 ·

Note: Vince updated his post to use more neutral language - thank you Vince! - so I have updated this post to be more neutral as well.
Vince Bonfanti just announced New Atlanta's "new ColdFusion-to-.NET and ColdFusion-to-Java migration services." and goes on to say "As experts in ColdFusion, ASP.NET, and Java technologies, New Atlanta is uniquely positioned to assist organizations that want to migrate their ColdFusion applications to either the ASP.NET or Java EE web application platforms."
Vince has said in the past that he sees BlueDragon.NET as a migration path from CFML to .NET so this isn't entirely surprising. His blog now has a sidebar that consolidates links to posts he's made in the past three years on this topic (the posts span July 2005 to January 2008 so they're not exactly "news").
It's clear that Vince and New Atlanta are going in a very different direction to Open BlueDragon. Vince is not involved with OpenBD and it is TagServlet, not New Atlanta, who are behind the open source project.
ColdFusion continues to thrive under Adobe's leadership - the hints around Centaur suggest that it will be a mind-blowing release. Open BlueDragon is available now for download - in several ready-2-run formats, as a simple WAR or even in source code form for you to use for free in pretty much any way you want. And at Scotch on the Rocks, Railo announced their partnership with Red Hat to move the Railo CFML engine to jboss.org as an open source project which should extend the reach of CFML into the Java community.
It's never been a better time to be a CF developer - more choices, more advances.

16 responses

I used to use BlueDragon for CFQuickDocs.com and my blog, but I switched to ColdFusion 8 last year. I won't be able to afford ColdFusion 9 when it comes out (unless hell freezes over and Adobe makes a free Express version), so I will probably switch to Railo down the road. I have a VPS, so I need to own ColdFusion o run it on my server, and $1500 is steep when I make about $30/yr from the adds on my sites. So Railo will end up being the best choice, unless I switch to PHP. ;)

I had just blogged about the level of commitment of all those sitting on the OpenBD Steering Committee to the CFML community, it is amazing to be a part of that. Also, I often reflect at how ColdFusion with a minimum price of $1,300.00 survived in the face a commercial company (Microsoft - ASP - ASPX) and open source PHP etc alternatives which are &quot;free&quot;. The reasons are many but a committed community would be high on my list. If Microsoft could not break that then no other company or individual can and that is a truly marvelous thing.

@Jake, the CFML engine comparison site is run on php, it's kind of a let down...

@Sean, You're right, this isn't new news, it seems like it has always been the case. That's why MySpace is apparently now a .NET shop. The fact that NewAtlanta appears to be chipping away at the CF community in terms of both developers and projects. I'm not sure why ColdFusion developers are supportive of the organization, NewAtlanta seems to be eroding the developer's ecosystem.

This is getting a bit off topic here, so if anyone wants to respond, probably best to take it to another arena (email / mailing list / whatever)

@Calvin&gt;&gt; the CFML engine comparison site is run on php, it's kind of a let down...

The CFML engine comparison site was setup on the best software available to get things rolling straight away. (MediaWiki is a powerful and proven technology; that it is PHP is mostly irrelevant)

However, as soon as CodexWiki is available, I will be looking at that with a strong desire to switch to it.(also, I've sent an email to Mark Mandel asking for access to the closed beta, which will hopefully speed up that process)

(And of course will also be considering the openBD wiki software when that is released)

I'm not sure they are. I think the message is if you have already made the decision to move to .NET here is some useful software that allows your CF developers to still write CFML. I'm sure Microsoft would be doing far more to convince developers than NA are ?

&quot;In addition to demonstrating BD.NET 7.1 at TechEd, we are also announcing our new ColdFusion-to-.NET and ColdFusion-to-Java migration services. &quot;

BD.NET is the tool to write CFML for .NET, and BD is the tool to write CFML for Java. Though neither are completely compatible with ColdFusion. Additionally, they don't appear to be offering software, but instead services.

Microsoft seeking for developers to switch from the CF platform is expected. A 'supporter' of the CF community creating additional opportunities for developers to switch from the CF platform is... interesting.

Let's be realistic, New Atlanta is a Gold Certified Microsoft Partner that provides a competitive CFML engine that now provides a service to migrate from ColdFusion to .NET/J2EE, and messages as follows on their home page:

I'm not sure how much clearer their business objectives can be, and again wonder how ColdFusion developers can consider them a friend of the ColdFusion community. They are a business, and CFML is only a leverage point from what I can tell. It's a great business model if they can find enough activity to sustain, but it occurs to me that this is a form of exit strategy for their CFML efforts.